I have made a new book on Green Lewisham! And it will be in print in the spring!

Green Lewisham

I have been very quiet on the blog site but I haven’t been idle. Like many people I have found the last two years difficult. But eventually I found a project which has allowed me to take something positive from the time. I have previously blogged about some of the parks and nature reserves in Lewisham. Now I have gathered together all my explorations in a book. It is a book on Green Lewisham, the only book on Green Lewisham, and it has been a privilege to research and illustrate it.

I have lived in south east London for over forty years and never realised what an historically interesting corner of London it is. Of course when you are working full-time there isn’t time for much else during the week and by the weekends my head had had enough! Over the past two years the book became full-time work instead. My starting point was the sites listed on the Inventory of the London Gardens Trust to which I added the sites listed by Lewisham Council and then I started walking.

I have worn out a pair of shoes, walked many miles and taken more photographs than I care to consider. My camera is also feeling the strain! The end result is 47,000 words and 300 photographs covering 90 green sites in Lewisham. My collection of books has vastly increased and there are two fat files of notes. Lynda Durrant has made two wonderful maps for the book and the Mayor of Lewisham has provided a generous message to readers.

What started as a personal project felt more like a community project in the end. I met many interesting and helpful people – in reality and over the internet – without whom the project would not have been possible, and I enjoyed chats with people I will never meet again. I a time of restrictions and isolation it was a life-saver. Strangers generously agreed to be photographed and I know one photograph has proudly winged its way to New York!

Green Lewisham will be available in the spring as a print-on-demand book.